Once primarily used for research and shopping, the Internet has quickly become an alternative source for entertainment, dating, and multi-player gaming. Through various types of websites, virtual communities have been established that allow users to create a virtual or online reality for themselves. Computer games have also crossed over into the online world, allowing users to play against or along with each other from the comfort of their own homes, Internet cafes or other Wi-Fi outlets around the world. When it comes to most online entertainment activities including gaming and virtual communities, a disconnection unfortunately exists between objects in the real world and objects in the online world.
More recently, however, entertainment websites have been developed in which the website content is directly tied to a product that is purchased by a user. For example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,534,157 to Ganz, incorporated herein by reference, a user purchases a toy that includes a secret code provided in the toy packaging. Access to a certain interactive content on the website provided by the manufacturer of the toy is restricted to users who purchase a toy. When the user carries out a registration process on the manufacturer's website, which involves entering the secret code, a virtual world is presented to the user. The virtual world includes a virtual toy corresponding to the toy purchased by the user. The user can participate in various interactive activities involving the virtual toy. The user may then purchase additional toys and enter the secret codes provided with those toys to add additional virtual toys to the virtual world. These virtual toys can interact with each other, thereby enhancing the user's entertainment experiences. Despite the popularity of such websites, consumers continue to demand more interactive capabilities and more flexibility with respect to their virtual products.